https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy4zejgz3z9o

"The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has won a decisive victory in Germany's eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, far ahead of mainstream rivals.

But preliminary results show it has gained 43.8% of the vote to the conservative CDU's 17.2%, falling short of an outright majority needed to govern alone. Tricky negotiations on who will run the state lie ahead.

AfD's charismatic leader in the state, Ulrich Siegmund, said it was "sensational" and added that the party had won a mandate to govern.

No far-right party has controlled a German state since World War Two, and governing at state level would mean powers over policing, local education and culture.

Saxony-Anhalt has a small population of 2.1 million and the AfD in the state is assessed by domestic intelligence as "right-wing extremist", a classification rejected by Siegmund, 35.

He along with joint national leaders Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla were overjoyed as exit polls revealed they were on track to score more than double the party's 2021 result." 

Is far right in Germany the equivalent of moderate republicans in the USA, or more moderate Democrat?

On a lot of social issues, they seem to be in line with quite conservative to extreme Republicans in the USA. On welfare programs, they would be to the left of a lot of Democratic politicians. 

Some AfD members want ties with Russia and China like Trump does. Wannabe "strongmen" recognizing other wannabe "strongmen". 

Honestly, fuck the East. The whole project was a massive disaster that should have never happened.

Plenty of former Nazis and far-right figures contributed greatly to the CDU's rise to power. We shouldn't pretend people like Hans Globke didn't influence Germany during the Cold War.

I keep reading this like Guns N Roses debut album won an election.

Well you are not reading it wrong considering what AfD wants for their country.

Their core issue is to limit immigration. Though they are also critical of severing the supply of cheap Russian energy (after the German leaders decided to make themselves completely dependent on Russian energy 😐).

The other parties could likely largely have prevented much of their rise by taking a stricter stance on immigration. Instead they decided to create a big coalition to isolate AfD. Well whaddaya know, that backfired spectacularly.

Immigration is the hot button issue for much of the West right now and the right have been very effective at capitalising on this while other parties either ignore it or take a soft stance.

Also, the status quo clearly is not working for most people, so voters turn to more radical alternatives in protest.